Aer Lingus’ campaign against Shannon confirmed

THE fact that Aer Lingus engaged in an undercover campaign against Shannon during the Shannon status row has finally been corroborated after almost 20 years.

While the suspicions of those involved in the Shannon lobby were only supported at the time by feedback from allies in the US travel industry and a flow of letters to newspapers and Shannon Airport campaigners from passengers who felt they had been misdirected, not until now has it been confirmed that an organised campaign was being conducted by the airline. The claims and accusations could never be confirmed and were vigorously denied by Aer Lingus.
Now with Aer Lingus once again being accused of betraying and abandoning Shannon with its move to dismantle its transatlantic base and lay off more than 100 cabin crew, a whistle-blower has emerged in the person of Limerick city councillor, Diarmuid Scully.
He spilled the beans on what he witnessed and was instructed to do during seasonal holiday work with Aer Lingus in New York and London at the height of the Shannon stopover controversy, when the national airline was to the forefront of the campaign to give US flights direct access to Dublin at the expense of the Shannon gateway of more than 40 years standing at the time.
Councillor Scully told last week’s meeting of the Mid-West Regional Authority what he found when he worked with Aer Lingus in New York in 1991. When bookings came through from travel agents and operators, Dublin was to be given precedence over Shannon so that numbers travelling to Dublin were beefed up and thereby supported the airline’s case for the Shannon stop in each direction to be removed. “Not a day went by when this did not happen,” he said.
As an example, he cited how a large contingent from Fordham College travelling from New York to play an American football game at Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds as part of the Treaty 300 programme in November 1991, was routed to Dublin. That group, consisting of team, officials, cheerleaders and band came to over 100. “But they were routed to Dublin,” Councillor Scully said.
The Fordham party therefore stopped at Shannon and went on to Dublin before back-tracking across the country to Limerick. This, Councillor Scully said, was typical “because when making the booking, the travel agent or tour operator had no idea where Limerick was located and that Shannon Airport was just a few miles down the road from their destination”. The group would also have departed from Dublin and then stopped at Shannon on the way home New York.
But while there were suspicions among Shannon lobby campaigners that Aer Lingus was “stuffing” its Dublin passenger figures, there were reassuring noises from the airline’s top brass. In a document shared with Shannon lobbyists in December 1991, the then group chief executive at Aer Lingus, Cathal Mullan was telling Shannon that there was nothing to fear.
“Concern that a change in the (stopover) rule would, over a period, lead to a significant reduction in transatlantic service at Shannon is seriously misplaced,” Mr Mullan stated at the time.
As part of a series of commitments to Shannon, including year-round direct daily connections to New York, he also stated that concession of direct US flights into Dublin would only apply to the New York and the then proposed Los Angeles services.
“For sound economic reasons, we propose to continue to route all Boston/Chicago services though Shannon and Dublin, with Shannon services turning around at Shannon,” the document stated.
Regional authority members were also enlightened on Councillor Scully’s experience when working with Aer Lingus in London in the following summer of 1992. “On my very first day, I was approached and asked to sign a petition calling for the Shannon stopover to be abolished,” he said. What surprised him was that the approach did not come from a manager or supervisor “but from the trade union shop steward”, he said.
Aer Lingus was giving assurances that year also. In a top secret meeting set up by the late Dr Brendan O’Regan, representatives of the Shannon lobby groups met with the airline chief executive, Cathal Mullan and the Shannon manager, Tom McInerney. To protect the confidentiality of the exchanges, the meeting on February 2, 1992, was held in London – the venue was Heathrow Airport.
Then, Aer Lingus was again contending that the end of the Shannon stopover rule could “grow business to the advantage of all, including Shannon”.
Other assurances included that Shannon would be guaranteed year round daily service, with the New York service turning around at Shannon. With the exception of pilots, crews were to be based at Shannon and the documented minutes of the meeting said, “Aer Lingus will protect their investment and therefore aggressively market Shannon as a destination”.
Reacting to Councillor Scully’s disclosures to the regional authority meeting, Shannon councillor Gerry Flynn commented, “Those of us who were involved in the Shannon status fight have been proved right. We could see what was coming down the line and it has all happened.”